Meet the man behind the trowel

Venetianplasterottawa.com is operated by Robbie Mansour (Green Time Painting & Design Ottawa). Robbie fell in love with venetian plaster shortly after starting his eco-friendly painting business in 2013.

My journey

I discovered venetian plaster in Lebanon while visiting a relatives house. I walked into their apartment and I saw a GIANT slab of marble on the living room feature wall – I asked “is this marble?” as I was reaching out to feel it. “It’s called Stucco” my cousin replied…

After returning to Ottawa, I spent months looking for “stucco” but all I could find was a different type of stucco for exterior walls. Until I finally find out it’s called venetian plaster (stucco is a type of venetian plaster).

So I practiced in my own house and ruined a wall, twice. After that point I said okay I’m going to learn from someone who actually knows what they are doing.

I looked for someone in Ottawa to show me how to apply this beautiful product but no one knew anything about venetian plaster in Ottawa. Even painters who have been painting and decorating for 30 years. I was surprised to find out that  not everybody visited my cousin Karims apartment in Beirut.

I eventually  found venetian plaster master applicators in Australia which helped me learn the skills to become decorative finish applicator or as some would like to call it, an “Artisan”. Venetian plaster opened my eyes to other beautiful wall finishes like concrete, micro cement, liquid metal, limewash, and epoxy resins.

Now I hope to share my skills on projects in Ontario and the rest of Canada.

Thanks for reading.